VGNVGN

VGNVGN

SUMMER 2006NEWSLETTER

On March 6, 2006 the Vermont Genetics Network (VGN)INBRE hosted a highly successful press conference at theUniversity of Vermont where U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy for-

mally announced the five year, $16.5 Million grant awarded to VGN bythe NCRR/NIH through the IDeA Networks of BiomedicalResearch Excellence (INBRE).This is the largest grant ever received bythe University of Vermont. Dr. Judith Van Houten, George H. PerkinsProfessor of Biology, is Principal Investigator and Director of VGN.

A senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee andlongtime supporter of federal investments in medical research and pub-lic health, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy praised the award and applica-tion, saying,“This grant illustrates the vitality of UVM’s forward-think-ing approach to research and development. Because the Universityhas wisely adopted a collaborative approach to this work,Vermont’s sta-tus as a leader in biomedical research will truly be a state-wide effort.”

UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel added, “We have done a gooddeal of thinking about what it means to be a 21st century land grantinstitution, and VGN provides just the kind of services and outreach wefeel UVM should be offering Vermont and Vermonters in the new mil-lennium. Through the VGN’s multi-faceted programs, in concert withour partner undergraduate institutions, we're having a significantimpact on genetic research and science education in Vermont which,in turn, will benefit workforce development and job creation in thestate.” President Fogel acknowledged the other Vermont College rep-resentatives in attendance; President Dave Wolk from Castleton StateCollege, President Barbara Murphy from Johnson State College,President Ron Liebowitz from Middlebury College, Provost JosephByrne from Norwich University and President Marc vanderHeydenfrom Saint Michael's College.

Vermont Governor Jim Douglas attended the press conference andspoke about the impact VGN has made in the Vermont education sys-tem and how important it is to offer research opportunities to under-graduate students and faculty throughout the state of Vermont. Otherspeakers included Ms. Kevin Veller, Health and Disability Director,who spoke on behalf of U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords. Mr. PhilFiermonte, Outreach Director, read a letter sent by U.S.Representative Bernie Sanders.

Dr. Barbara Alving, Acting Director of the National Center forResearch Resources (NCRR) attended this special event. In addition,she met with VGN funded researchers from UVM as well asresearchers from our Baccalaureate Partner Institutions (BPI’s);Castleton State College, Johnson State College, Middlebury College,Norwich University and Saint Michael's College. It was the perfectopportunity to showcase the accomplishments made during theBRIN phase of VGN.

“Our grant benefits Vermont through its support of the baccalaure-ate institutions that play crucial roles in our higher education andworkforce development, its creation of facilities at UVM and our part-ner institutions” said Dr. Judith Van Houten,“The grant also enhances

overall resources for biomedical research, whichis key to many aspects of economic prosperity.”

The VGN grant funding brings new resourcesand cutting edge technology to Vermont.Laboratory renovations, research equipment andsupplies for the faculty and undergraduates at thenetwork partner colleges are funded through thegrant. In addition, the grant helps build biomed-ical research funding competitiveness at UVM byproviding research support to early-career facul-ty and graduate students. This support can beinstrumental in serving as a “pipeline” for youngpeople to pursue health research careers.

New technologies that VGN is responsible forbringing to UVM and its partners includemicroarray and proteomics facilities and a bioin-formatics core. The microarray facility provides atechnology that allows researchers to look at asmany as 15,000 genes simultaneously and zero inon specific ones, such as those involved in a dis-ease process. The bioinformatics core is a con-stantly-evolving information network used togather, store, analyze and integrate biological andgenetic information gained from the microarrayprocess and turn it into significant conclusionsabout how cells function. The proteomics facili-ty makes mass spectrometry services available forhigh level protein analysis.

The technologies allow researchers at UVMand at the partner schools to do research theypreviously weren’t able to undertake and becomeeligible for the increasing number of researchgrants that require access to these technologies.

In addition to the work undertaken at each of the partner institu-tions,VGN also has an active education outreach component. Once aweek for eight weeks each semester, faculty and staff from UVM visita classroom at an institution in Vermont and share the microarray andbioinformatics technologies with students and their professors. Theteam is currently visiting Castleton State College. To date,VGN hasvisited classrooms at Green Mountain College, Johnson State College,Middlebury College, Norwich University, and St. Michaels College.

“Bringing the capability of doing advanced biomedical research toundergraduates throughout the state is a key element of VGN,” said VanHouten. “There’s a good chance that, by exposing these young peo-ple to the challenge and excitement of this work, they’ll be persuadedto continue with their studies and to become part of a highly skilledworkforce in the state.”

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U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy

Vermont GovernorJim Douglas

NCRR Acting DirectorDr. Barbara Alving

UVM PresidentDaniel Fogel

Additional Conference coverage on Page 7

B I O G R A P H Y

VERMONT GENETICS

NETWORK (VGN)INBRE

DirectorJudith Van Houten, PhD

Outreach Core DirectorChristopher Allen, PhD

Bioinformatics Core DirectorJeffrey Bond, PhD

Undergraduate Networking andProfessional Development Director

Karen Lounsbury, PhD

Baccalaureate Partner Institutions & Coordinators

Castleton State CollegeMark Fox, PhD

Johnson State CollegeElizabeth Dolci, PhD

Middlebury CollegeChristopher Watters, PhD

Norwich UniversityEdward Carney, PhD

Saint Michael's CollegeJohn Van Houten, PhD

VGN Staff

Program ManagerTeri Hart

Business ManagerNathan Besio

Administrative AssistantJulie Paris

IT SpecialistBryan Fleming

Vermont Genetics NetworkUniversity of Vermont120A Marsh Life ScienceBurlington,VT 05405Phone (802) 656-4087Fax (802) 656-0242Email:Vermont.GeneticsNetwork@uvm.eduWebsite: www.uvm.edu/~vgn

NCRR/NIH Grant #P20 RR16462

The VermontGenetics Network(VGN) has finishedits first year of fund-ing in its INBREphase. We are veryproud of ouraccomplishments,which are all due tothe hard work of

our staff members and the faculty, whom wesupport. A highlight of the year was the PressConference at which Senator Patrick Leahyannounced our grant award. NCRR ActingDirector Barbara Alving was present at the PressConference, and afterwards, she visited with ourfaculty and staff for the entire day. It was adelight to showcase VGN talent to the Director.

We enter Year 2 of our funding in high gear.Our Microarray Facility is growing and sup-porting more research all the time. AProteomics Facility focusing on MassSpectrometry is becoming a reality, and our goalfor Year 2 is to have not one but 2 new MassSpecs and a Facility Manager on hand to helpyou with your proteomics projects. Outreachinto Vermont is a huge success, thanks to thediligence and hard work of our team. TheBioinformatics Core, which tends to work

behind the scenes, is moving along nicely withERIS, our searchable experts list for Vermont.

Also in Year 2, we will support ourBaccalaureate Partner Institution (BPI) facultywith project grants, pilot grants and renovations.We have a record number of students workingat our BPIs this summer with VGN support.Year 2 is the year that will see the first plans forbuilding and sustaining a culture of research atour BPIs. To facilitate this on-going effort ofculture-building,we are featuring two experts inintegration of research and teaching at ourAugust 16 retreat.

In Year 2, we will support a record number ofgraduate students at UVM, and the set up fund-ing of two new faculty members in AnimalScience and in Biology.

The VGN is more than the sum of its individ-ual parts, and we must continually thank the ded-icated members of VGN's staff and faculty whomake all of these parts work. We are most defi-nitely impacting research infrastructure in ourState, and we are making the University ofVermont an accessible place for all Vermonters tofacilitate their research.We know that you valueVGN because we have an astounding 100% com-pliance response rate for our surveys and report-ing that are necessary for our annual progressassessment by the NIH. Thank you for thatresponse, and thank you for your hard work onYear 1 that gives us great momentum for Year 2.

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Judith Van Houten, PhD

Dr. Judith Van Houten, George H. PerkinsProfessor of Biology at the University ofVermont, is the Principal Investigator of theVermont Genetics Network (VGN), a recentlyawarded $16.5 million program funded by theNational Institutes of Health (NIH). This awardrepresents the largest single investigator grant everreceived at the University of Vermont. VGN isfunded by a five-year award from the NationalCenter for Research Resources,and is part of theNIH initiative called IDeA Networks ofBiomedical Research (INBRE). VGN is collab-oration among the University of Vermont,Castleton State College, Johnson State College,Middlebury College, Norwich University andSaint Michael's College to build critical mass andinfrastructure in the broad area of genetics andBiomedical Science.

Dr.Van Houten is also the State Director andPrincipal Investigator of the Vermont NationalScience Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR grant thatbuilds science and engineering infrastructure inVermont. Dr.Van Houten serves on the NationalEPSCoR Foundation Board which helps craftpolicy concerning the National EPSCoR pro-gram by working with federal agencies on issues

regarding science and engineering funding.In addition, Dr.Van Houten is the Director of

the Hughes Endeavor for Life ScienceExcellence (HELiX) Program which supportsundergraduate research at the University ofVermont. HELiX encourages students to stay inscience and consider careers in the sciences byinvolving them in research projects and expos-ing them to as many opportunities as possible inthe sciences.

Dr.Van Houten received a BS from PacificLutheran University and her PhD from theUniversity of California at Santa Barbara. Herresearch investigates the molecular mechanismsof how cells detect chemicals,and she uses organ-isms as small Paramecium and as complex asmice. Her work provides insights into the senseof smell. Dr. Van Houten received theManheimer Award in 1996 for career achieve-ments in chemosensory sciences and theUniversity Scholar Award in 1991.

Professor Van Houten's extensive experienceand broad knowledge of our state’s research assetsgive us confidence that VGN will continue toplay a key role in the development of Vermont’sresearch infrastructure.

2 Vermont Genetics Network INBRE Summer 2006VGNVGN

Clockwise from left, Saint Michael's College student, RebeccaDrapp, describes her VGN funded research to other Career Dayattendees; Middlebury College student Adam Swick, won a prizefor his poster describing his VGN funded research; Panelists at the

5th Annual VGN Career Day, Dr.Karen Lounsbury, Director of the VGNNetworking and ProfessionalDevelopment Program, Dr. Eric Buel,Laboratory Director of the VT ForensicLaboratory, Dr. Gerry Herrera,VP ofResearch & Development at MedAssociates, Inc., Dr. Diane Jaworski,Associate Professor of Anatomy &Neurobiology at the University ofVermont, and Dr. Phelan Fretz,Executive Director of ECHO at theLeahy Center for Lake Champlain

The past year included several activities to bolster networking andprofessional development for students within the Vermont Genetics

Network (VGN). Our annual Career Day was held in April at theDoubleTree Hotel in South Burlington. Students and their advisorsfrom Castleton State College, Johnson State College, MiddleburyCollege,Norwich University, Saint Michael's College and the Universityof Vermont were invited to attend. Students that received VGN fundingin year one of INBRE were required to present posters describing theirresearch. Students Melanie Lussier from Johnson State College andAdam Swick from Middlebury College won prizes for their posters. Thefollowing panelists were invited to speak to the students about theircareers and the paths that led them to their current positions

The panelists were available to speak with the students after the for-mal panel presentation to answer questions and give advice aboutcareer choices.

A new approach to undergraduate career development was alsoundertaken in year one that involved career panel presentations to sci-ence undergraduates at the Baccalaureate Partner Institutions (BPIs).These panels were held in addition to the panel presented at the annualCareer Day. Panelist volunteers were selected to expose students to adiverse set of career positions and paths ranging from early career stu-dents and technicians to advanced executives and professors, and, whenpossible, panelists also included alumni from the participating institution.

The first panel was held at Castleton State College. Thanks to theefforts of Dr. Mark Fox, the Castleton BPI Coordinator, KrystleDanforth, a recent Castleton Biology graduate now working for GreenMountain Antibodies in Burlington, was invited to speak as part of the

three member panel. The other panelists included Dr. KarenLounsbury,UVM Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Scott Tighe,Senior Lab Technician for the UVM Microarray and Flow Cytometryfacilities. After the panelists shared their career paths, the open discus-sion centered on how to best prepare for future careers, including tak-ing standardized tests and choosing summer jobs to improve resumes.Students left with a look into future possibilities of what can be donewith a science background.

An evening panel was scheduled for Norwich University and washosted by BPI Coordinator Dr. Ed Carney and coordinated by KathyMcGuckin of the Norwich Career Development Center. The four-member panel had a variety of careers including academic and entrepre-neurial interests. The panel consisted of Norwich alumni Dr. KennethLongo, a scientist at Elixer Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, MA, BillParker, CEO of Diffraction Limited in Waitsfield, VT, Dr. MichaelSinclair, former Norwich faculty member and founder of Microcheck inNorthfield,VT and Dr. Karen Lounsbury. After hearing the twists andturns the career paths of the panelists took, the students came away witha strong sense that there might not be a straight track leading to theirultimate career.

At Johnson State College, alumna Julie Nicole, now a University ofVermont medical student, served on the panel along with Dr. DainLaRoche, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Johnson StateCollege. This group of students was grateful that the panel came to speakat their institution because Johnson is located approximately one hournorth of the University of Vermont and it is difficult for students toattend VGN related functions in the Burlington area.

The Saint Michael’s College panelists included John Berino, SaintMichael's alumni and Manager of Occupational and EnvironmentalHealth at Fletcher Allen Healthcare, Dr. Karen Lounsbury and ScottTighe.The students appreciated hearing from the panelists particularly atthis crucial time when they are beginning to think about what directionthey want to take with their own careers.

Several common threads were apparent throughout all the panelsincluding the advice to create career paths based on personal interests

and talents. Also consistent was the reassuringdoctrine that there are many paths to success,and rarely are they straightforward. Overall, thesite-specific career panels were a great successwith lots of positive feedback. We intend tocontinue the panels next year with the goal ofbringing the panels to other colleges throughoutthe state of Vermont.

Summer 2006 Vermont Genetics Network INBRE 3 VGNVGN

NNeettwwoorrkkiinngg aanndd PPrrooffeessssiioonnaall DDeevveellooppmmeenntt UUppddaatteeby Karen Lounsbury, PhD

Eric Buel, PhDLaboratory DirectorVermont Forensic Laboratory

Phelan Fretz, PhDExecutive DirectorECHO at the Leahy Center forLake Champlain

Gerry Herrera, PhDVP, Research & DevelopmentMed Associates, Inc.

Diane Jaworski, PhDAssociate ProfessorAnatomy and NeurobiologyUniversity of Vermont

VVGGNN OOuuttrreeaacchh TTeeaamm UUppddaatteessIn January 2006 Dr. Janet Murray was hired as the VGN Outreach

Coordinator and Research Associate in the biology department. Dr. Murray receivedher BS at the University of New Hampshire in Biochemistry and her PhD at theUniversity of Vermont in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Dr. Murray hasresearch experience in many areas including yeast and human genetics and hasdemonstrated a passion for teaching. She has been participating in the delivery of themicroarray module and focusing on the delivery of the bioinformatics associated withmicroarray technology. In addition, Dr Murray will be instrumental in the develop-

ment and coordination of Proteomics,Bioinformatics and other educational modules that will be customized for thereceiving institutions. In talking to Dr. Murray she said “ I am very excited about being a member of such a pas-sionate and incredibly knowledgeable team of individuals.This position allows me the opportunity to interact withstudents and faculty from all over the state. I have met and worked with many wonderful individuals and lookforward to more interactions in the future.The combination of teaching, curriculum development and professionalinteractions associated with being the VGN Outreach Coordinator makes this a unique and exciting position.”

The VGN Bioinformatics Core and Outreach Team have been hosting Professor William Barnes onsabbatical from Clarion College in western Pennsylvania. Dr. Barnes joined the outreach team in the spring of2006 participating in the microarray module and learning this technology for delivery in western Pennsylvania.Dr. Barnes’ major focus has been the development of the bioinformatics module resulting in an online tutorial tobe beta tested at UVM in the fall of 2006.The collaboration of VGN outreach with Dr. Barnes has been morethan successful. His excitement about our projects, his development of the bioinformatics module and his passionfor teaching have no doubt lead to a long term relationship between VGN and Dr. Barnes with the result beingthe expansion of VGN outreach tools to western Pennsylvania.

4 Vermont Genetics Network INBRE Summer 2006VGNVGN

The ERIS project originated with a request, expressed by repre-sentatives of Vermont colleges, for a list of regional scientific

experts. Dr. Judith Van Houten proposed development of a more gen-eral resource, one that we hope will also provide information aboutregional events, funding opportunities, equipment, services, researchactivities and infrastructure development efforts that may be of inter-est to Vermont scientists. The proposal included a strategy for makingERIS last beyond the funding period.

Currently ERIS consists of two services: astatewide email distribution list and a tool for man-aging and updating bibliographic citations. BryanFleming designed and implemented the ERIS soft-ware. He is working with Dr. Janet Murray,VGNOutreach Coordinator, who will interface withfaculty and students at Vermont colleges to matchERIS services with their needs.

ERIS is not really a database. Informationabout expertise can be time consuming to col-lect and changes quickly since experts enter andleave the region. The goal underlying ERIS is to develop resourcesthat integrate and facilitate exchange of information about expert-ise that is both already available in other databases and up to date.

The first step was to develop a statewide email distribution list. Ourexperience with lists of email addresses is that many of emails bounceback and many people are missing from the list. Instead of relying onthe VGN to manage such a list, ERIS sees, for example,Email Address(es): Jeffrey.Bond@uvm.eduTitle: Research Associate Prof Department: Microbio & Molec Genetics in the UVM PeopleDirectory. ERIS email distributions specify departments, not people

(Table). ERIS is used to announce regional events and fundingopportunities, announcements that are targeted based on affiliationand job title.

The second step is to increase ERIS’ resolution with respect toexpertise. As VGN Director Dr. Judith Van Houten points out, it is notgood enough to know that experts are biologists – “we need to knowhe/she can tell what kind of bear it is from its skat”. This step in

development, currently in progress, relies on twoideas: experts write documents, and informaticstools allow indexing of documents based on acontrolled vocabulary. The MeSH vocabulary,used to index PubMed entries, contributes to thesuccess of PubMed because it knows about syn-onyms and hyponyms (for example, HodgkinsDisease is a kind of cancer).

We started with bibliographic citation databasesthat associate publications with people and key-words. Internet robots implemented by Dr. RamaKocherlakota and Bryan Fleming search biblio-graphic citation databases with personal queries,

for example “Bond JP”[Author]. When the robot encounters a newdatabase entry it prompts me to tell it whether the publication is real-ly mine. If so, the publication is entered in my public publicationdatabase. I am also asked if the keywords describe my expertise(Figure). I published with Dr. Chris Francklyn but with respect tohistidine-tRNA ligase I am along for the ride. We will expand ERISto include other documents, for example, web pages and course syl-labi that also reflect expertise. For more information contact:Bryan.Fleming@uvm.edu or Janet.Murray@uvm.edu

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DoubleTree HotelSouth Burlington,VT

August 16, 20068:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m.

Guest Speakers

Maria Pellegrini, PhDVice President for Research

Brandeis University

Donald Cronkite, PhDProfessor of Biology

Hope College

Building a Culture of Research

PowerPoint and Poster Presentations by VGN funded Faculty and Students

Dr. Janet Murray &Professor William Barnes

Opposite Page,Timothy Hunter, Director of the UVM DNA Facility where the VGN Microarray Facility is located, and Scott Tighe,Senior Lab/Research Technician, assist researchers with their microarray experiments

The Microarray Core Facility has become awell established laboratory with a large

number of users both here at the University ofVermont (UVM) and within our BaccalaureatePartner Institutions (BPI’s). The facility is locat-ed in 305 HSRF and is now in its 4th year ofoperation. The lab uses the Affymetrix basedGeneChip system for microarray analysis, theNanoDrop Spectrophotometer for criticalnucleic acid quantitation, and the Agilent 2100Bioanalyzer for RNA, DNA, and protein qual-ity assessment. The facility is maintained by twoexperienced core staff and usage has continuedto grow each year along with the developmentand implementation of several new services.Presently, the most common requested service isstill global eukaryotic gene expression profiling.

The facility can now offer expression analy-sis for prokaryotic organism. This service wasbrought online in response to the microarrayneeds of Dr. Grace Spatafora from MiddelburyCollege. Dr. Spatafora studies Streptococcusmutans as a model organism to better under-stand the mechanisms of oral pathogens andtheir role in plaque formation and dental cavi-ties.The facility has optimized the use of lasercapture microdissection (LCM) to isolate smallamounts of target RNA (≤20 ng) for microar-ray analysis. In a recent project for Dr. HymanMuss, LCM derived cancer cells from breastcancer biopsies were compared to LCM gener-ated stroma and breast reduction samples usingHuman U133A 2.0 GeneChips. This projectrequired new protocols that enabled amplifica-tion of small target amounts of 20 ng of RNAor less (as compared to the traditional 2ug tar-get preparation) and modifications in the LCMprocedure to obtain acceptable RNA quality.

The facility has recently started to offer theuse of the 500K DNA mapping chips, exon,and DNA tiling arrays. The 500K DNA map-

ping chips allow investigators to correlateexpression data with chromosomal copy num-bers, detect single nucleotide polymorphisms,and loss of heterozygosity. This procedure usestwo GeneChips that each contain ~250,000SNP’s and when used in combination thisapproach will allow for the detection of500,000 genotypes for human studies. Thefacility can now offer exon arrays forresearchers interested in human, rat, and mouse.The exon array chip analysis allows researchersto simultaneously detect differentially expressedgenes and alternatively spliced transcripts. Thiswill likely replace the standard gene expressionarrays over the next few years and the facilitystaff are currently investigating this utility. TheTiling arrays (or promoter arrays) are also avail-able through the facility and are well suited forChIP-chip analysis of chromatin structure andtranscriptional regulation.

This fall marks the 4th anniversary of opera-tion of the Microarray Facility.An open housewas held on June 16th, 2006 in combinationwith the VCC DNA Analysis Facilities’ 10thanniversary. The day was filled with seminars,tutorials, tours, and discussion with facilitypatrons regarding future usage and studies. Theseminar entitled “A Systems BiologyDiscussion-Genomes to Bases”was co-present-ed by Jeff Fitzgerald and Dr. Rebecca Enigkfrom Affymetrix and gave an overview of thenew applications available with the newest evo-lution of GeneChips. The noon seminar“Application of Current and Emerging HighThroughput Genomics and ProteomicsTechnologies as a Shared Research Resources”was presented by George Grills, Director ofCore Facilities and Technology Assessmentfrom Cornell University.This seminar was wellattended and provided insight on emergingtechnologies. Over one hundred people fil-tered through the facilities and many doorprizes were awarded at the end of the day.

UUVVMM//VVGGNNMMiiccrrooaarrrraayyFFaacciilliittyyby Tim Hunter and Scott Tighe

Summer 2006 Vermont Genetics Network INBRE 5 VGNVGN

The goal of the VGN Microarray Outreachproject is to expose undergraduates in the

state of Vermont to microarray technologyusing hands-on laboratory experiences. In thismodule, students learn how gene expression inyeast is changed after exposure of yeast todimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a common envi-ronmental contaminant and solvent. Theexperiment and data analysis are performed inconjunction with the Microarray Core Facilityand the Bioinformatics Core. Through thisexperience we hope to increase the skills ofundergraduate science students within the stateand hope that these additional skills help themin their future career development.

Delivery of the microarray module toNorwich University and Castleton StateCollege in the 2005/2006 academic year,com-pleted the initial dissemination of microarray

Micorarray Outreach – Continued on page 6

MMiiccrrooaarrrraayyOOuuttrreeaacchh by Janet Murray, PhD

VGN Microarray Outreach Team Top – Pat Reed, PhD; Middle, Scott Tighe

and Ahmad Chaudhry, PhD; Bottom,Janet Murray, PhD and Tim Hunter

DNA mapping chips can reveal SNPs, LOH, chromosomal copy number, and chromosomal damage. In this illustration thearrow indicates a chromosomal deletion on the X Chromosome from a melanoma sample.

Micorarray Outreach– Continued from page 5

technology to all the Vermont GeneticNetwork (VGN) - Baccalaureate PartnerInstitutes (BPIs).These efforts were initiated inthe Spring of 2004 through funding of VGNby the BRIN program of the NCRR/NIHand have continued with the 5 year grantawarded to VGN in 2005 by the INBRE pro-gram of the NCRR/NIH.

Anticipating the realization of the goal ofdelivery of the microarray module at all theBPIs, delivery of this technology to GreenMountain College, the first non-BPI site, wascompleted in the fall 2005. Currently, othernon-BPI institutes are being target for deliveryincluding Lyndon State College where we will

be introducing this module in the fall of 2006and Marlboro College tentatively scheduledfor delivery in the Spring of 2007.

In the spring of 2006 the microarray mod-ule was delivered for the second time atJohnson Stare College under the direction ofProfessor Elizabeth Dolci in collaborationwith the VGN outreach team. This was thefirst site where the microarray laboratorymodule was reintroduced and where thistechnology is on its way to becoming a per-manent part of the curriculum.

Many other institutes are interested inrepeating the microarray experience includingSaint Michael’s College and MiddleburyCollege slated for delivery in the Spring of2007 as well as Norwich University and Green

Mountain College tentatively scheduled forthe fall of 2007.

The dissemination of the microarray mod-ule has provided wonderful interactions withstudents across the state and collaborations andnetworks with faculty from various colleges.The success of this module is exciting and hasprovided us with an amazing template for thedevelopment and delivery of both bioinfor-matics and proteomics modules that will beoffered by VGN outreach.

Young investigators from around thecountry were honored at an annual din-

ner hosted by the Coalition ofEPSCoR/IDeA states Washington, DC inFebruary 2006.

Vermont’s delegation included Dr. DainLaRoche, Assistant Professor at Johnson StateCollege, and Paula Mouser, a doctoral candi-date working with Dr. Donna Rizzo in theUniversity of Vermont (UVM) Department ofCivil and Environmental Engineering. Ms.Mouser earned her Ph.D. from UVM in May2006 and is currently doing post-doctoralresearch in environmental microbiology atUMASS Amherst. Dr. Judith Van Houten,StateDirector of the INBRE and VT EPSCoR pro-grams, introduced both scientists at the event.

Dr. LaRoche’s current research project atJohnson State College is dedicated to studyingthe effects of aging and physical activity onmuscle strength in older women. The focus ofthe project is to determine how much of thedecline in muscle function seen with aging isdue to the aging process itself and how much isdue to a decrease in physical activity. Thelong-term goal is to test the effectiveness ofresistance training programs to enhance reac-

tion time,muscle strength,and muscle power inolder adults in the hopes of improving theirquality of life.

Dr. LaRoche benefited from the VermontGenetics Network funding through theVermont INBRE grant. He has been able toequip and supply his laboratory and carry outresearch with summer support and release timeduring the academic year. His work has attract-ed the interest of students, who are inspired togo on to biomedical careers.

As a graduate student at UVM, Ms. Mouserworked on an interdisciplinary project to

improve parameter estimation, site characteri-zation, and long-term monitoring techniquesfor contaminated aquifers using multiple typesdata. She incorporated genome-based infor-mation on bacteria and traditional water chem-istry data of subsurface waters, with computa-tional methods such as geostatistics and artificialneural networks to better detect and track land-fill leachate into groundwater and aquifers inNew York.

Ms. Mouser benefited from VermontEPSCoR’s focus on Integrated Research onWater in the Environment (iRWE) initiative,which brought together scientists and engi-neers from across the campus and State in orderto tackle groundwater problems of importanceto the State. Ms. Mouser created a truly inter-disciplinary project, and benefited from work-ing with iRWE faculty in biology, engineeringand geology. She demonstrated how powerfuland innovative interdisciplinary research can be.

Over 22 young investigators fromEPSCoR/IDeA states were in attendance forthe dinner which also featured KathleenKingscott, Director of Worldwide InnovationPolicy, from the IBM Corporation.

Dr. Royce Engstrom, Chair of theEPSCoR/IDeA Coalition invited youngresearchers who benefited from EPSCoR orIDeA support as a way “of demonstrating thenew research talent and infrastructure develop-ment that policy-makers understand”.

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6 Vermont Genetics Network INBRE Summer 2006VGNVGN

Left to Right, Dr. Lara Carlson works with students at Castleton State College on an outreachmicroarray experiment; Tim Hunter,VGN microarrayOutreach team member, instructs a class at NorwichUniversity; Students work on an outreach microarrayexperiment at Middlebury College

Ms. Mouser shown seated front row, second from the left andDr. LaRoche shown standing second row, first on the leftalong with several other young investigators

Summer 2006 Vermont Genetics Network INBRE 7 VGNVGN

Front Row (L-R) Provost Joseph Byrne,Norwich University,VGN Director Dr. Judith VanHouten, US Senator Patrick Leahy, NCRRActing Director Dr. Barbara Irving; Middle Row(L-R) Vermont Governor Jim Douglas,President Barbara Murphy, Johnson State College,President Daniel Fogel, University of Vermont,President Marc vanderHeyden, Saint Michael'sCollege; Top Row (L-R) President RonLiebowitz, Middlebury College, President DaveWolk, Castleton State College

VVGGNN PPrreessss CCoonnffeerreenncceeContinued from Page 1

FACULTY PILOT GRANTS

• In 2005 13 awards totaling $736,950 were made to faculty members at all five partner institutions.

• In 2006 11 awards totaling $709,450 were made to faculty members at all five partner institutions.

FACULTY PILOT PROJECT GRANTS

• In 2005 2 awards totaling $24,800 were made to faculty members at Middlebury College.

• In 2006 4 awards totaling $56,300 were made to faculty members at Middlebury College, Norwich University, andSaint Michael's College.

GRADUATE STUDENT ASSISTANTSHIPS

• In 2005 6 awards totaling $210,000 were made to faculty members for graduate students at the University of Vermont.

• In 2006 4 awards totaling $40,000 were made to faculty members for graduate students at the University of Vermont.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH GRANTS

• In 2005 10 awards totaling $19,050 were made to undergraduate students at Johnson State College, MiddleburyCollege, and Saint Michael's College.

• In 2006 9 awards totaling $40,500 were made to undergraduate students at Johnson State College, MiddleburyCollege, and Saint Michael's College.

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Castleton State College • Johnson State College • Middlebury CollegeNorwich University • Saint Michael's College

For a detailed listing of VGN funded researchers, please visit our website at:www.uvm.edu/~vgn and click on “VGN Funded Researchers”.

Members of the Outreach team as well as students andfaculty from Norwich University and Johnson State

College traveled to the Big Apple to tour the DarwinExhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. Wewere given a guided tour of the exhibit and viewed theIMAX movie Galapagos.

Another highlight of the trip was a tour of the laborato-ries in the Institute for Comparative Genomics at theAmerican Museum of Natural History. UVM graduatealumni and Assistant Curator Susan Perkins Ph.D. hosted ourgroup and led the tour of the genomics laboratories andsequencing core. The Institute for Comparative Genomics isdeveloping the world’s largest species tissue repository. JulieFeinstein the Collection Manager led our tour of the AmbroseMonell Cryo Collection frozen tissue repository.

The attendees included 11 students and 2 faculty from Johnson StateCollege, 14 students and 2 faculty from Norwich University as well as 4outreach team members.The trip also included separately purchased tick-ets to the Broadway show Rent which was a great social event for the stu-dents most of whom had never been to the city of New York.

Thereaction

from the students was

overwhelmingly positive...

“It was a great learning experience and it

was wonderful to see the lab,Museum and Rent.”

Breanne (Breezy) Muehler,Johnson State College

“This was such a great opportunity to see what the Bio field has to offer.”Jonathan Nieto, Norwich University

“Thank you for the trip to New York it was a great opportunity and an enlightening experience!”Heather St. Martin, Norwich University

“Thanks a bunch for this terrific trip. I loved the labtours, show and IMAX.What a great opportunity

for us!”Lynz Parker, Norwich University

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